Norwood family unnerved by racial hate letters

NORWOOD -- Finding racist letters pinned to her windshield made Krista Devonshire plenty uncomfortable, but knowing they were probably penned by someone she considers a friend is downright creepy.

"Whoever is writing them obviously knows us and obviously has such hatred for me and my family and the color of people's skin," said Devonshire, 37, a Glenolden native who moved onto the 100 block of Printz Avenue in the spring of 2007. "If they are calling my children and grandchildren the N-word, God only knows what's going on in their house."

Devonshire began to receive the hand-scrawled hate letters about two years ago. Always left on her minivan, the notes appear to have been written by someone who knows the family and despises black and biracial people and their presence in the neighborhood. (Krista and her husband Tim are white and Krista's children from a previous relationship, Daisha, an Interboro High School senior, and Donovan, a Cardinal O'Hara High School sophomore, are mixed race, as is Daisha's 1-year-old daughter Maylin.)

"Get out of here. We do not want n---- around here," reads one note. "Go to Chester and live alright. Two n---- were enough."

Another talks about the family being on welfare -- they are not -- and the full ride Donovan is getting to cover his tuition at O'Hara, another myth, according to Krista.

The letters make it clear the author had access to content on Krista's Facebook page and monitored who was coming and going from the house.

"When my daughter was 16 and pregnant at the time -- which was already a difficult situation -- I got a note that said, 'How dare you post pictures of your family?' and saying she should have kept her legs closed," Devonshire said.

Another one ridiculed the amount Krista and Tim were asking when they put their home on the market a few years ago.

On Wednesday morning, Krista found the note that angered her more than the half-dozen that preceded it.

"That's the one that mentioned by grand baby," she said. "I couldn't believe it."

Neither could Daisha or her friends.

"Some of them are really hurt, just as hurt as I was, because if you meet my daughter, she just can't upset anyone," Daisha said. "She's so harmless, It just wouldn't make any sense for anyone to say anything (bad about her)."

The family has handed the notes over to Norwood police, who did not return a call for comment Friday.

"It doesn't make me feel any different about the community," Daisha said. "I think that a certain person did it (and) they are probably very sick."

Devonshire said she will be relieved, but not elated, when her stalker is outed.

"I don't feel like our lives are threatened (and) I don't feel like anything is going to happen to our house," she said. "I just feel that this person needs to get help."

Devonshire said the episode has been a learning experience for the family, especially her children.

"I want them to see what's out there," she said. "(Daisha's) in the real world (and) my son will be in the real world in a couple years. It's sad to say, but there are people out there that are like this and I want them to know to stand tall, chest out."